The Archean, which represents more than a third of Earth’s history, contains some of the largest and richest ore deposits of the world. Numerous cratons of variable size and age have been mapped (Fig. 1) and others are still being discovered or delineated largely due to the widespread use of high-precision U-Pb geochronology. One of the specific characteristics of Archean cratons is the coexistence and juxtaposition of different and major styles of base and precious metals deposits formed at different times and crustal levels (Poulsen et al., 2000; Groves et al., 2005a;...